JPH05316398A - Picture information recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the recording processing period of time and to quicken the picture recording speed by executing picture data write and access to a management information area of a recording medium in parallel. CONSTITUTION:An access through a data bus includes checking of a recording area for data to be recorded from now on by FAT checking, write of header information of data to be recorded, and FAT write of the data to be recorded or the like and is an access to a management information area of an IC memory card and the above-mentioned processing is executed in advance for the period. In order to make FAT write of the data to be recorded in advance, it is required to decide the size of the data to be recorded, but in this case, the recording data volume of one card is definite, then no problem is caused. An idle data bus is used for a read period (nearly 16ms) of a CCD to access of a CPU to the IC memory card thereby reducing recording of one card and recording time of data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information recording apparatus, and more particularly to an image information recording apparatus having a shortened recording processing time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an image information recording apparatus such as an electronic camera uses a DOS FAT system as a recording format in order to ensure data compatibility and manageability with other apparatuses such as personal computers. In a conventional electronic camera using an IC memory card as a recording medium, a video signal obtained from a CCD is converted into a digital signal, then temporarily stored in a frame memory, and orthogonal conversion processing is performed on image data read from the frame memory. Then, a compression process including an encoding process is performed and the compressed image data is recorded in the IC memory card.

FIG. 5 shows the recording operation timing of a conventional image information recording apparatus of this kind. The recording operation will be described with reference to FIG. 5. When a recording start signal (trigger 2) is input from the operation unit, exposure is started at the next falling timing of the vertical synchronizing signal VD. After the exposure for a predetermined time is finished, C is applied during the period from the next rising edge to the falling edge of VD.
The image data of the CD is read and written in the frame memory. After reading the CCD image data,
The built-in CPU (syscon) checks the FAT (management information area) of the recording medium (IC memory card) (card access), and confirms the recording area of the data to be recorded. Then, a compression operation process is performed to compress the image data and record it on the IC memory card.
When the compression and recording of the image data is completed in this way, the CP
Header information (imaging date, imaging data (number of pixels, field / frame, etc.)) of the image data recorded by U
Is written, and when all the data has been written,
Finally, the FAT of the data just recorded is written. The data thus recorded is recognized by the system as one DOS file.

[0004]

In the conventional image information recording apparatus as described above, after the CCD data is read,
After the CPU checks the FAT and writes the compressed data via the data bus, the header information and the FAT are written. That is, during the CCD data read period (usually about 16 ms), the CPU
Does not do any special processing, and during this time IC
The data bus to and from the memory card is also free. on the other hand,
Access to the IC memory card for FAT check, header information writing, FAT writing, etc., performed before and after the data compression writing process, significantly slows down the recording speed of image data, which is an obstacle to high-speed continuous shooting. Occurs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image information recording apparatus in which the recording speed is remarkably increased.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an image information recording apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention temporarily stores image information generated by photographing or externally supplied in an image memory means. After that, a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each different image information and an area of image data representing the image information is applied to the applied information recording medium by applying a predetermined information compression process. An image information recording device adapted to store each image information file according to the above, and an operation of storing the image information in the image memory means and an access to a management information area of the applied information recording medium. It is configured to have means for performing in parallel.

An image information recording apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention temporarily stores image information generated by photographing or supplied from the outside in an image memory means and then performs a predetermined information compression process. The applied information recording medium is stored as each image information file according to a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each different image information and an area of image data representing the image information. In this image information recording apparatus, the recorded image information that is sequentially supplied is sequentially stored in the image data area of the applied information recording medium at least in the continuous recording operation mode, and then the recorded image information is recorded. It is configured to have means for storing the management information related to the above in the management information area of the same medium.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the recording processing time is greatly shortened by writing the image data and accessing the management information area of the recording medium in parallel.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of an image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. This embodiment is an application example to the electronic camera described above, and at the time of recording, a subject image formed on the image pickup system 2 such as a CCD via the optical system 1 is converted into an image signal. This image signal is applied to the clamp circuit 3
Then, the DC level is kept constant and converted into digital image data by the A / D conversion circuit 4 and then written into the frame memory 6 under the control of the memory control circuit 5. The image data read from the frame memory 6 is processed by the DCT / IDCT circuit 7 by the DCT.
Orthogonal transformation processing such as (discrete cosine transformation) is performed to perform data transformation necessary for data compression, and the coder / decoder circuit 8 performs data compression processing. This data compression processing is performed based on the information such as the encoding table read from the auxiliary memory 9 via the data bus 20, and the compressed data is written in the IC memory card 10.

On the other hand, during reproduction, the IC memory card 10
The image data read from the coder / decoder circuit 8
In the DCT / IDCT circuit 7, inverse expansion processing such as IDCT (Inverse Discrete Cosine Transform) is applied and written in the frame memory 6. After the expansion processing of all the image data is completed, the image data is read from the frame memory 6, digital processing suitable for the NTSC image signal is applied in the digital process circuit 11, and the analog image signal is applied in the D / A conversion circuit 12. Is converted to. This analog image signal is supplied to the external output terminal 15 while an image is reproduced by an EVF (electronic viewfinder) 14 through a 75Ω driver 13. From the character generator 16, character data for performing on-screen display such as date and time on the display screen is supplied to the digital process circuit 11. The system controller 19 controls each of the above units based on various instruction signals from the operation unit 18. The display unit 17 displays the operating state of the electronic camera and the like.
In the above configuration, in response to the input of the trigger 2 signal from the operation unit 18, the system controller 19 causes the exposure, CC
Controls such as D reading, data compression, and writing to the IC memory card are performed.

The operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG. In the conventional example shown in FIG. 5, CP
Since the U access to the IC memory card was performed twice after the CCD data was read and after the data was compressed, it was an obstacle to high-speed recording. On the other hand, in this embodiment,
High-speed recording is possible by accessing the IC memory card at the same time as the CCD data reading period. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, data bus access is
It is also performed during the CCD data read period. This access is performed by checking the recording area of the data to be recorded by checking the FAT, writing the header information of the data to be recorded, and the F of the data to be recorded.
This includes AT writing and the like, and is generally access to the management information area of the IC memory card, and all of them are performed in advance during this period. Here, in order to perform the FAT writing of the print data in advance, it is necessary to determine the size of the print data in advance, but in the case of this kind of image recording apparatus, whether the print data amount of one sheet is approximately predetermined or not. Or, since it is often decided, there will be no problem. According to this embodiment, the readout period of the CCD (about 16
ms) using a free data bus for the CPU IC
Since the above-mentioned various accesses to the memory card are performed, it is possible to remarkably shorten the recording time of one sheet and the recording of data.

FIG. 3 shows a timing chart of the recording operation in the second embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the first embodiment, the CPU is used during the CCD reading period.
The data written to the IC memory card by the above is the related data of the data to be recorded, but in the present embodiment, the related data of the recording data recorded immediately before is written. That is, in the reading period # 1 of the CCD of the first frame, the FAT of the recording area to be recorded from now on.
Only the check is performed, and the writing of the header information of the recording data of the first sheet and the writing of the FAT are performed on the C of the second sheet.
This is performed during the CD reading period # 2. Furthermore,
In this period # 2, the FAT check of the recording area of the second sheet (frame to be recorded) is performed. Similarly, 3
Recording is performed until the continuous shooting is completed for the first and fourth images. According to the present embodiment, the FAT of the recording data is written after the writing of the compressed data, so that it is particularly effective when the size of the data to be recorded is not known in advance.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the recording operation in the third embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the embodiment described above, various data related to the data is written every time one sheet is recorded, whereas in the present embodiment, these various data are collectively written after a series of continuous shooting. That is, in the card access performed during the CCD reading period of each frame, during the CCD reading period # 1, # 2, # 3, ..., Access is performed to check the FAT related to each frame to the IC memory card. , After each access, the compression process and the writing of the compressed data are performed, and after the FAT check of the nth sheet and the writing of the image data of the nth frame are completed, various data (header Information, FAT, etc.) are written together.

It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to an image file device which is supplied as data suitable for an image information file from outside, in addition to the electronic camera described above. In the case of the image file device, the CCD data read operation (corresponding to the operation of temporarily storing the read image information in the image memory means) is the operation of temporarily storing the image information supplied from the outside in the image memory means. Become. Further, although the FAT is accessed in the above-described embodiment, the management information area including the FAT and the header part is accessed.

[0015]

As described above, since the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention writes image data and accesses the management information area of the recording medium in parallel, the recording processing time is significantly shortened. The speed of image recording is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of an image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of the recording operation in the first embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart of the recording operation in the second embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the recording operation in the third embodiment of the image information recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of a recording operation in a conventional image information recording device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Optical system 2 Imaging system 3 Clamp circuit 4 A / D
Conversion circuit 5 Memory control circuit 6 Frame memory 7 DCT
/ IDCT circuit 8 Coder / decoder circuit 9 Auxiliary memory 10 IC memory card 11 Digital process circuit 12 D / A
Conversion circuit 13 Driver 14 EVF 15 External output terminal 16 Character generator 17 Display section 18 Operation section 19 System controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Image information generated by photographing or externally supplied is temporarily stored in an image memory means, and thereafter,
According to a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each different image information and an area of image data representing the image information, the applied information recording medium is subjected to a predetermined information compression process. An image information recording device configured to store each image information file, wherein the operation of storing the image information in the image memory means and the access to the management information area of the applied information recording medium are performed in parallel. An image information recording apparatus comprising means for performing. 2. After temporarily storing in the image memory means image information generated by photographing or supplied from the outside,
According to a predetermined format including a management information area corresponding to each different image information and an area of image data representing the image information, the applied information recording medium is subjected to a predetermined information compression process. An image information recording device adapted to store as each image information file, wherein at least in a continuous recording operation mode, recorded image information to be sequentially supplied is sequentially stored in an area of image data of the applied information recording medium. After that, the image information recording apparatus is provided with means for storing management information relating to the recorded image information in a management information area of the same medium.